Wine lesson: finish
The FavorFlav editorial team loves wine, but as soon as it comes to terroir, tannins and sulfites, their attention tends to wane a little. Because what exactly does that sommelier mean? Miss WineLane comes to the rescue and guides you through the wild world of wine terminology. This week: the finish.
What is it?
‘What a fantastic finish, with wonderful length!’ Such a remark naturally sounds incredibly professional, but what on earth does it mean? The finish is the taste impression of a wine after it has been swallowed (or spat out). The finish comes after the taste; it is basically just the aftertaste. But that sounds slightly more negative than what is meant by finish. After all, the finish says something about the quality of a wine. It is the absolute finale. A sweet memory of everything you smelled and tasted before.
What is long and what is good?
A wine has a short or long finish. If you can’t taste anything at all after about five seconds, it is short. If the finish is long, the taste can easily linger for more than fifteen seconds. Long is usually good. The longer, more intense and more layered the finish is (with a new flavor emerging each time), the better the wine. But overly bitter, overly sour or overly sweet wine also lingers for a long time. In that case, you don’t experience the pleasant sensation of a finish; it is simply a nasty aftertaste.
Swallowing or spitting?
You can also assess a wine’s finish when you spit it out (at tastings, for example). So however tempting it may be to swallow everything, when tasting a lot of wine, it is perfectly fine to spit every now and then. Besides, that way you will definitely taste the last wines just a little better.
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